As I mention in my post about Ghojeh Sabz and Chaghaleh Badoom, my mom told me that there is such thing as a Ghojeh Sabz Khoresht. This little piece of news had me all curious about the possibilities and the outcome of such different and new type of stew. I thought my mom had a recipe for this and when I asked I literally got the following directions:

“Just sauté an onion, added cubed meat, and water and let it cook. Then add equal amounts of parsley and mint, add the plums, and cook for 45 minutes.”

Mind you this came from the person who follows recipes verbatim. So here I was trying to make this new dish with the minimal direction and plenty of skepticism about the lack of garlic and any type of quintessential Persian spices. So I scratched my head a little, thought it over, then walked into the kitchen and began an afternoon of cooking marathon. I say cooking marathon because I made two different dishes that day. And the irony is that by the time I was done with this dish I was sooooo hungry that I ate and completely forgot to take a nice picture of the finished product! So the picture above is from the leftovers!

So here we go!

Ingredients:

1 medium onion

1 lb of cubed meat (I used lamb in this recipe because that’s what I had in the freezer)

1/8 tsp of turmeric

1 bunch of parsley ~ 2 cups

1 bunch of mint ~ 2 cups

3 cups of unripe plums

salt & pepper

Sauté onion in some oil until translucent

Add turmeric and give it a stir allowing for the spice to release its flavor. While my mom said no turmeric, I decided that this is one of the most important steps in building your base for each khoresht. Turmeric adds a good flavor to the meat and broth.

Add the meat and let it brown in order to seal in the flavor.

Add 3 cups of water, cover and cook for 45 minutes.

In the mean time wash and dry the parsley and mint. Give it all a rough chop.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the unripe plums.

Finally, add the herbs. Give it all a stir and let cook for 1 hour on medium heat.

The result was very good. It was definitely worth a try! There is this nice blend of mint, parsley, and a hint of the delicate taste of the plums in every bite. Depending on how sour your plums are this dish can come out a bit sour. Mine was not sour, the balance of flavors was just perfect. There is always the option of adding some sugar if it is too tangy.